I broke up my smoking routine this week to try out a new bong/dab rig/nectar collector that just got sent to me from Waxmaid – the top silicone and glass smoking gear producers. So let me introduce you to a serious little smoking machine called The Soldier. I’ve been having fun with this one, using it as my regular sesh bong for a couple days now and I am seriously impressed. I even tried out dabbing for the first time (!) and also spent a stony afternoon enjoying the nectar collector… good times hanging out with The Soldier.

[Disclaimer: This product was provided by Waxmaid in exchange for an honest review]

First off, I’m guessing this rig is called The Soldier because it comes with everything you need for an herb adventure – a quartz banger to turn this into a dab rig, a bird nest glass and silicone bowl for smoking flower, a titanium nail to turn the mouthpiece into a nectar collector. It also has a 15ml glass jar to store your herb and a 3ml silicone jar to hold your concentrates. Load up your soldier with herb and dabbing material and hit the road!

Above: Image courtesy of Waxmaidstore.com

The Soldier is mostly constructed from silicone, which is heat-resistant and easy to clean. The whole bong can be deconstructed and thrown in the dishwasher. The only glass is where you put the water, and it’s encased in silicone above and below – you could break this bong, but it would take some work.

The Bong

A bong is my favorite way to smoke flower. A joint will do, especially passed around with friends, and I love my GRAV Last Prisoner Project spoon pipe, but when it comes down to it I’m a bong guy these days. So the first thing I wanted to see was how The Soldier worked as a water pipe… I loaded it up with some Sour OG I’d been smoking all week – a really delicious herb that I’ve been smoking in my pipe and from my beloved GRAV wide-base bong. I wanted to start with a known quantity and I knew this Sour OG pretty good.

The Soldier hit very nicely and purred like a small engine. The first hit I took was surprisingly huge, but very smooth. The hit was very tasty and I even detected a lemon flavor in the smoke that I hadn’t noticed before. The bird nest bowl holds a good amount of herb and I took over a handful of hits before the bowl was charred and four more hits until it was dust. Enough hits for a good sesh without having to repack the bowl all the time.

Over the last couple of days this has become my patio bong. I don’t have to worry about breaking it for the most part, it’s sturdy and when it’s loaded I can take a bunch of hits before going inside to pack a fresh bowl. This is important because I can’t take my glass bong out on the patio without worrying about breaking it. We spend a lot of time on the patio enjoying our view of the hi-desert, so The Soldier has seen a lot of duty, and impressed me with every hit.

The Dab Rig

I am not an experienced dabber, let me just say that straight out. I’ve had one dab in my life and that was five or six years ago when I was visiting a good friend down in Long Beach. He set the whole thing up, heated the rig and all I had to do was inhale. I think I took two hits that day and I was floored – stoned like I hadn’t been in over 30 years. I loved the high, but I was rather terrified by the butane torch my friend was using. It was big. I could imagine myself burning down the house if I had to heat a dab rig with that torch.

The torch thing kept me away from dabbing for years… after all, where does a dabbing newbie begin? Well, you begin by getting a dab rig, a torch, a dab tool, a carb cap and something to dab. Waxmaid provided the quartz banger that turns the bong into a dabbing rig. I went to the local smoke shop and bought the torch for $35… I got a small, hand-held model that wasn’t as intimidating as the one my friend had used. The dab tool was just $10, and the carb cap was another $10 and I was ready to dab – once I got something to dab. I ordered a gram White Runtz Live Resin from the local delivery service for $40, and I was in business!

If you watch the video you’ll see that my biggest problems with my first self-administered dab was using the darn torch. I don’t know if the one I got was defective or if it was just operator error, but I had a heck of a time adjusting the flame properly and shot flames across the room! Luckily I didn’t catch the place on fire!

I don’t recommend doing your first dab on camera, but there I was – and there was no turning back. I finally got the quartz banger heated, and settled in for my dab hit. I put about a rice size piece of the dab material on my dab tool and put it in the heated banger, causing the material to start to bubble and sizzle. I inhaled and held for three seconds…

The taste of the hit was like candy. I barely knew I was taking in smoke until I exhaled, and a ton of smoke came out. Then the hit slammed me! It took less than forty seconds to feel the hit and the effects were immediate and powerful.

To tell you the truth, I don’t know how much dabbing there will be for me in the future – I really love smoking flower. But The Soldier will be my go-to next time I decide to take another dab hit.

Note: just took a dab hit and this second time was sooo much smoother of a time, and I really felt the hit slam me. Maybe dabbing isn’t so difficult after all… The Soldier sure makes it easy.

The Nectar Collector

When you remove the mouthpiece you can insert the included titanium nail and you have a handy nectar collector.

This was a whole new concept to me and this is how it works – you heat the titanium nail with your torch until it turns red hot. Then you carefully insert the nail into your container of dabbing material and inhale through the mouth piece. The heated nail melts the dab material and turns it into delicious smoke. I was surprised by the huge clouds of smoke this produced.

Once I got the hang of taking hits from the nectar collector I had a blast with it. I found it to be very easy to use. And wow, did it stone me.

The Wrap Up

Flower, concentrates, dabs, bong rips, nectar collector – it all gets me stoned so pleasantly and this rig makes it easy to enjoy whatever way you like your cannabis or hemp. This is going to be my travel bong along with being my patio bong. The well-named Soldier is going to be my go-to whenever I have to smoke away from home. It’s sturdy, compact, easy to disassemble and clean, hits great, has an ample-size flower bowl, converts to a nectar collector when you need that extra kick, and The Soldier stores it’s gear onboard so you have flower and concentrates ready go at any time. Sounds like a winner!

Until later, best of health.

Link to product: https://bit.ly/2VY4cYh